A nation moving backward: The erosion of voting rights (guest column)

May 7, 2014

Jessica Pickens, 19, of Chicago stands with fellow voting rights activists outside the U.S. Supreme Court last year in Washington the day the court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act. / Pete Marovich/McClatchy-Tribune

Written by

Peter J. Hammer

Detroit Free Press guest writer

Peter J. Hammer

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Voting is about more than just politics. The right to vote is the wellspring of all other civil rights.

Countless martyrs have fought and died for this right. NAACP leader Medgar Evers, assassinated in June 1963, may be one of the most publicly celebrated victims, but he is not alone. Dozens were killed before and after him in Mississippi and elsewhere in the struggle to gain access to the ballot box. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed largely in response to the nation’s horror over the beatings in Selma, Ala., including the subsequent murder of Detroiter Viola Liuzzo.

These fundamental rights are again under attack. Many states are passing laws making it harder for their citizens to vote. At the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court is dismantling existing federal civil rights protections with one hand, while opening the doors to torrents of distorting corporate dollars with the other. These events should make us all pause and remember our past, as we contemplate our future.

Last summer, while completing Judge Damon J. Keith’s biography, “Crusader for Justice,” the Supreme Court issued its decision in Shelby County v. Holder. That decision struck down a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It also struck deep into the heart of Judge Keith.

I have never seen the judge so distraught and heartbroken. This grandson of former slaves spent his whole life fighting for civil rights. “They gutted that thing,” he said. “People died for this. Especially in the South. This is very upsetting.” Knowing his constraints as a federal judge, he did not say more, but the pain was etched in his face. I could imagine what was going through his mind.

Few men understand more deeply this nation’s struggle for civil rights and the importance of the right to vote. Judge Keith was trained in the lineage of Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall, walked down Woodward Avenue in Detroit in 1963 with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and was there for the March on Washington, listening first hand to Dr. King’s dream. He understands the sacrifices of King, Evers and countless others.

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The American civil rights movement inspired people around the globe. Nearly three decades later, Judge Keith welcomed another champion of democracy, Nelson Mandela, to Detroit upon Mandela’s release from prison and introduced him at Tiger Stadium. Mandela acknowledged his debt to Rosa Parks and those in the civil rights movement. This was a towering event, signifying the triumph of hope, perseverance and the opening of the doors of democracy in South Africa.

Judge Keith was in D.C. again in January 2009 with his granddaughter Camara for the first inauguration of President Barack Obama. In an exchange nationally broadcast on Larry King’s show, Camara proudly introduced her grandfather as a man who fought his whole life for civil rights. This grandson of former slaves now held his granddaughter’s hand to witness the inauguration of the first African-American president of the United States. A clearly emotional Keith testified to the greatness of this country’s promise and the goodness of its people.

The depth of feeling was the same in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act decision, but the nature of the emotion had turned from joy to profound sadness. I could see the transformation on his face and knew what was going on in his mind. Knowing that the Voting Rights Act flowed from the blood of Selma, he was painfully concerned that the nation was moving backward. The judge who made famous the phrase “democracies die behind closed doors” was now worried that the Supreme Court was closing the door on our own democracy.